Don't start an agency if..
and the ones who could or should start one
Never start a digital or social agency! 🙅 It's not the hidden pot of gold that all those influencers tell you.
If you are a smart person earning above 40-50 lakhs and don't enjoy sales, don't start a digital social agency.
It makes sense at the beginning of your career but rarely later.
Why?
✅ Too many people are selling the same thing.
✅ The key skill set is sales and relationship building; not marketing and creativity
✅ It's much easier to sell the same idea if you are part of a big agency vs as a boutique player
✅ It's lots of hard work.
I ran a bootstrapped tech startup, Cupidly, and before that, I had an agency that did reasonably well in a short time, Brandlogist. We won accounts against Ogilvy, MRM, and Webchutney despite often asking for the same or more money 💰.
However, I realized the amount of time, effort, and energy that goes into running a digital agency. In less time, I earned more money by exiting my tech startup 💸 (and this was without funding; it was not during the crazy startup days of 2018-2022, and it was bootstrapped).
So start an agency if you:
🧠 Are doing it for the love of it. When you love something nothing else matters.
OR these 3 reasons:
🧠 Do it if you love sales
🧠 Are earning below 50 lakhs because the upside is good ( but exit in 5-6 years when your market salary would be around the same)
🧠 Or are guilty in a 'me too' scandal
Agree/Disagree?
- Saurabh https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhparmar/
